- Father-of-one Maajid Nawaz asked for two private sessions at a strip club
- Footage shows prospective parliamentary candidate trying to touch her
- Staff at the east London club said Nawaz had been pestering girl all night
- Nawaz can be seen repeatedly trying to make contact - which is against venue's policy
A would-be Lib Dem MP who describes himself as a feminist has been filmed repeatedly trying to touch a naked lap dancer.
Married father-of-one Maajid Nawaz asked for two private sessions at a strip club in east London.
Up close: Would-be MP Maajid Nawaz with a scantily-clad lap dancer in the club in east London
Seedy: The married father-of-one asked for two private sessions at a strip club in east London
Staff said Nawaz had been pestering the girl all night and his actions had been ‘outrageous’.
In the film, Nawaz – a convicted former extremist – can be seen repeatedly trying to make contact with the girl as she dances naked for him in a private room during two £20 lap dances.
Manager Jay Shah, who witnessed Nawaz’s behaviour, said he was ‘very drunk’ and bouncers threatened to throw him out several times.
‘He was asking her to touch him and he was touching her,’ he said.
‘In general he was quite persistent with her, asking to take her out and for her number.’
A rising star of the Liberal Democrats, 37-year-old Nawaz is also a leading figure in the Muslim community and head of anti-extremism charity the Quilliam Foundation, which he set up.
Rising star: The prospective parliamentary candidate with Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg
A regular guest on BBC News programmes, he declared on Newsnight in 2013: ‘I consider myself a feminist.’ He once wrote on Twitter: ‘You don’t need to be a woman to stand for women’s rights.’
He often throws his weight behind gender issues such as the campaign against female genital mutilation and paints himself as a role model for young Muslim men at risk of radicalisation.
But Abdul Malik, the club’s owner, said he wanted the video to be seen by the public because of the way Nawaz portrays himself as a feminist and a family man.
‘He’s always talking about religion on TV and I thought, what a hypocrite,’ he said.
He claimed ‘arrogant’ Nawaz acts like a ‘spokesman for Islam’ – but visited the club during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Staff said Nawaz had been pestering the girl all night and his actions had been ‘outrageous’
The full strip club footage, obtained by the Mail, clearly shows Nawaz receiving two five-minute lap dances an hour apart.
He and two friends paid £10 entry to the small ‘gentleman’s club’ in Whitechapel and were seen drinking heavily. He left the club alone in the early hours of the morning.
During the first session – in which the dancer gets naked – she has to repeatedly remove his hands from her body and pushes him away at one point.
During the second dance with the same woman, he also spends time chatting to her – whispering into her ear and trying to touch her hair.
Newlywed: Nawaz's second wife Rachel Maggart
She later informed the manager, who told security to ‘keep an eye on her’.
Club boss Mr Shah claimed Nawaz had been ‘bragging’ but the dancer later told him: ‘Who does he think he is?’
Tory MP Nadine Dorries last night called for Nawaz to quit his candidacy.
‘In politics, you can’t advocate one cause or manner of behaviour then act differently in your personal life,’ she said.
Labour MP Khalid Mahmood added: ‘The message this sends to women is not one of respect.’
British-born Nawaz was jailed in Egypt in 2005 for his role in radical Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir.
On his return to England in 2006, he renounced his views and quickly established himself as a spokesman on extremism issues.
He has been selected by party leader Nick Clegg to fight the London marginal seat of Hampstead and Kilburn and has been married to US-born writer and artist Rachel Maggart, 29, since October.
They were engaged and believed to have been living together at his West London home when he visited the club on July 9 last year.
He has a young son from his previous marriage to Rabia Nawaz – who is also known to have supported Hizb ut-Tahrir.
A spokesman for Nawaz said he denied touching the dancer ‘inappropriately’ and added that his reputation for advocating women’s rights was ‘in the context of Islamic extremism’.
He said he had not been warned about his behaviour, and was not ‘out of control’ through drink or breaching the rules.
The spokesman said: ‘The evening you refer to was our client’s stag night before his marriage.
‘His best man took him to the gentleman’s club with the full knowledge of our client’s then future wife (now his wife).’
Nawaz can be seen repeatedly trying to make contact with the girl as she dances naked for him
more about Quilliam Foundation
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